Work History News New York Labor History Association, Inc. A Bridge Between Past and Present Volume 34 No 2 Summer/Fall 2017 I’ve got something to say Lifelong activists honored at Clara Lemlich Awards Aisha al-Adawiya has been a force in interfaith-based activism in New York City and around the world for nearly four decades. She founded Women In Islam in 1992 in response to atrocities perpetrated against Muslim women in refugee camps in Bosnia. In her introduction, Sarah Sayeed, from the mayor’s office, noted al-Adawiya’s commitment to conflict resolution, cross- cultural understanding, and peace building, as well as her efforts on the Schomburg Library project documenting black religious heritage. Lidia Correa, originally from Puerto Rico, dedicated herself to helping fellow New York City garment workers when she was a sample maker, and that dedication has never waned. Long since officially Peter Odabashian Peter retired, Correa still works essentially full- The 2017 Clara Lemlich honorees (from left): Lidia Correa, Vinie Burrows, Ingrid Frank, Mary Albritton Douglas, Lubow Wolynetz, and Aisha al-Adawiya time helping retirees. You’ll also find her on picket lines and protests, while she By Rachel Bernstein the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire over one remains active in community groups in her “everything here hundred years ago. Bronx neighborhood. When garment union seems to need us” The 2017 Lemlich Honorees leader Edgar Romney introduced Correa, –Rilke Vinie Burrows – actor, author and he remembered her tireless effort and hese words from poet Rainer fighter against violence and racism – uses enthusiasm. Maria Rilke capture the essence her artistry to advocate for social change. Mary Albritton Douglas, originally of the historical moment and With few roles open to a woman of color, from rural North Carolina, has been a the spirit of the six amazing she developed her own one-woman shows, volunteer nurse’s assistant and mentor to Twomen honored at the Seventh Annual which she has performed more than 6,000 other volunteers at St. Barnabas Hospital Clara Lemlich Awards on May Day at the times worldwide. A stunningly energetic for more than 30 years. Her dedication, as Museum of the City of New York (MCNY). 92-year-old, Burrows fit the Lemlich event Arlene Allende from St. Barnabas noted in The award celebrates unsung heroines into her one night off from the SohoRep her introduction, is extraordinary. When for their lifelong commitment to social production of Samara. Queens-based rapper Douglas was in her 80s, she trained as a activism, in the tradition of those who Kalie Kamara introduced Burrows with a hospice worker, and she continues to sparked so many reforms in the aftermath of rap written just for her. Continued on page 4 Upcoming events We hope you’ll join us in the coming months. These are strange days, indeed. They’re better spent together. Friday, September 22, 2017 Thursday, October 12, 2017 Women in Non-Traditional Skilled Trades Today 3rd Annual Bernhardt Labor Journalism Award and Roundtable discussion on programs that have helped women Forum on Labor Journalism enter historically male-dominated skilled trades and the uniformed Join us for a forum on labor journalism and history – and the forces, in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the hiring of announcement and celebration of the winner of the third annual the first women firefighters in New York City. Participants include Debra E. Bernhardt Labor Journalism Prize. women from IATSE, Local 3 IBEW, United Women Firefighters, NYU Tamiment Library, 70 Washington Square South and the nonprofit, Tools & Tiaras. Jane LaTour, author of Sisters in New York, NY 10012 the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New 6 – 8 p.m. York City, will moderate the discussion about mentoring, training, and what it took, and still takes, for women to work in the skilled RSVP to [email protected] or call 212-998-2635. trades. The Bernhardt prize is sponsored by York Labor History Association NYU Tamiment Library, • LaborArts • Metro New York Labor Communications Council • 70 Washington Square South NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO • Robert F. Wagner Labor New York, NY 10012 Archives at NYU’s Tamiment Library 6:30 – 8 p.m. Also in the works : Stay tuned for details RSVP to [email protected] or call 212-998-2635. • The 31st Annual John Commerford Labor Education Awards This event is sponsored by the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at • Labor Relations in Baseball: Today and Tomorrow NYU’s Tamiment Library • New York Labor History Association • • Labor and electoral politics: Where do we go from here? LaborArts BOOK REVIEWS ONLINE CHECK OUT OUR growing list of reviews of books related to labor and labor history on the Work History News New York Labor History Association website: newyorklaborhistory.org. New York Labor History Association, Inc. Books reviewed in recent months include Jews in Work History News is published the American Labor Movement: Past, Present & Future; twice per year to keep NYLHA We Are One: Stories of Work, Life and Love; Joelito’s Big members informed about our Decision/La Gran Decisión de Joelito; City of Dreams: organization’s work and labor his- tory events in New York. For more Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles; information, visit us at White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in newyorklaborhistory.org. America President Irwin Yellowitz If you’d like to write a review, please contact Keith Vice-President George Altomare Danish, our book review editor, at keithdanish@ Secretary Abbe Nosoff; Regina Olff yahoo.com with your suggestion. Treasurer Peter Filardo Editor Leyla Vural 2 New York Labor History Association Report on Blanche Wiesen Cook’s book talk Eleanor Roosevelt’s essential American life gets its due Eleanor Roosevelt: The War Years and After, 1939-1962 By Blanche Wiesen Cook, Viking, 2016 By Miriam Frank abor History month at Tamiment Library featured a book talk on May 9 with CUNY’s Distinguished Professor of History, Blanche WiesenL Cook. The third and final volume of her massive biography of Eleanor Roosevelt came out in November last year and will be launched as a paperback this fall. Cook’s Volume I, The Early Years (1992), follows ER’s childhood, youth, and marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905, and concludes in 1933 when she was 49 years old and just entering the White House as First Lady. Volume II (2000) observes for her radicalism, but persisted, whether ER during The Defining Years (1933-38) Blanche Wiesen Cook or not her husband agreed. – the transformative crisis of the Great Following FDR’s death in 1945, ER Depression, the New Deal, and the rise of FDR into doing more,” said Cook. was honored and admired for having come fascism prior to US entry into World War As First Lady, ER cast an independent into her own through much adversity. She II. Cook now concludes the acclaimed series and activist role that would involve continued to campaign for her causes and with Volume III (2016), The War Years and her deeply in the vital movements of lived to see many of her projects come to After (1939-1962). her time. From research in the public fruition. Hers was an essential American Cook arrived for her talk at Tamiment record and in ER’s extensive and life, sweetened along the way with secret in great spirits. She may have other projects intimate correspondences, Cook details loves and nurturing friendships during war in mind, but for now, she is thrilled to share ER’s maturing political skills and the and peace, and made purposeful with the the exhilaration of completing this thorough evolution of her powerful public identity. good fight for a better world. and necessary biography. Her years of ER flourished as a campaigner and as a Miriam Frank is active in UAW Local shaping deep research into elegant narration popular newspaper columnist. Her daring 7902, the NYU adjuncts’ union. Her book, have yielded fresh, powerful insights into ideals involved her in many projects Out in the Union: A Labor History of ER’s ideals and travails during the worst of and controversies; and her progressive Queer America, was cited by the American times, and then her life after FDR’s death positions often challenged government Library Association as an “Outstanding Title” during the post-war period. policies. She received plenty of criticism of 2015. Cook’s presentation prompted lively dialogue with the audience about the famously difficult presidential marriage and its discontents. The troubles that the Cook's years of shaping deep research into two had with each other were sometimes elegant narration have yielded fresh, emotional, sometimes political. On occasion they did agree, but nuances of strategy and powerful insights into Eleanor Roosevelt's ideals balances of power were often tricky and the and travails. issues – racial justice, rescue of refugees – were urgent. “She never stopped pushing Summer/Fall 2017 3 Let’s put on a show! (Union-style) By Keith Danish ith the passing last February, at age 102, of the actor/ comedian “Professor” Irwin Corey, we may have lost the Wlast human connection to the 1930s hit Pins and Needles, the ILGWU-sponsored satirical musical revue that gave us songs of “social significance”, warned that “it’s not cricket Corey, at nearly 100, panhandling for to picket”, and advised that “if a radical causes idea gives you nervous diarrhea, call it Un- maintaining its popularity. The Daughters American!”. The play started with a cast of the American Revolution attacked it made up almost entirely of union members as “profane” and “Communistic”, the from the shop floor, who rehearsed for over American Communist Party condemned its a year to become stage-worthy performers.